Masuma Ahuja

Strategist and journalist

My work focuses on how we bring diverse groups of people together to imagine and create a future they all share a stake in.I write about this in my newsletter, Future Possible, and my new book, The Infrastructure of Belonging.I also produce, curate, and facilitate retreats, interactive workshops, and innovation labs that bring together interdisciplinary rooms to imagine and build new futures together. These range from addressing questions of how we reimagine the economy and how we turn our cafes into third places to what kind of world we want to steward technology to build.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist + author. ex-CNN, Washington Post, Freeda. Oxford alum. Associate, Imperial War Museum.

About

I’m a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and strategist.My work focuses on how we bring diverse groups of people together to imagine and create a future they all share a stake in.I write about this in my newsletter, Future Possible, and my new book, The Infrastructure of Belonging.I also produce, curate, and facilitate retreats, interactive workshops, and innovation labs that bring together interdisciplinary rooms to imagine and build new futures together. These range from addressing questions of how we reimagine the economy and how we turn our cafes into third places to what kind of world we want to steward technology to build.Previously, I spent 15 years in media, shaping how people understood the world, building audiences of millions, and building systems to turn them into engaged communities.I launched The Washington Post and CNN on social media platforms including Instagram and Snapchat. I was part of the early team that built Washington Post Live, the live events division.As Head of Content at Freeda, the most engaged social community of young women, I helped scale our reach to 550 million people a year.I’ve lived in five countries and called about a dozen cities home, which has shaped my approach and the questions I've spent my career exploring.I've built two startups focused on small-group connection and belonging. Girlhood was a digital community and media platform funded by Google that was operational across 20+ countries. I facilitated cross-country small-group sessions for young women globally, building storytelling skills, cross-cultural empathy, and creative confidence.I hosted Little Revolutions, a podcast interviewing political leaders, CEOs, and thought leaders, with more than 10 million views.I’m known for innovative storytelling that gets people to slow down and recognise our shared humanity. Some of my most memorable work includes sending disposable cameras to women in 20 countries to create a portrait of motherhood around the world; creating a museum installation showcasing the lives of young people during conflict, as told through TikTok; collecting 10,000 voicemails from voters after a US election; and collecting voicemails to air on CNN by putting flyers in laundromats asking strangers to share their love stories.My first book, Girlhood, published by Algonquin, showcased the stories of 30 young women from 27 countries. It was featured in The Guardian, NPR, CNN, The Washington Post, and additional international media.Now, I write Future Possible, a newsletter exploring how we design and fund the infrastructure for a resilient future.I’m an associate of the Imperial War Museum. I have a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford.

writing

I write Future Possible, a newsletter and podcast exploring the intersection of climate, community, and capital: how we design and fund the infrastructure for a resilient and thriving future.
Read here.This was born out of a viral newsletter, The Possibility Economy, which reached 1.5 million people on launch.I am also the author of Girlhood, a book featuring 30 girls from 27 countries around the world.You can explore more of my previous journalism projects here.

Archive

Select projects

An interview podcast I hosted, featuring conversations with political leaders, CEOs, and thought leaders. It had 10 million+ views on social media and was featured by Apple, Spotify, and Amazon .

  • Girlhood around the world: A series about the lives of teenage girls (The Washington Post)

This is a ten-part series I wrote for The Washington Post, which was a special mini-series in The Lily newsletter. This was featured on Apple News and Snapchat, and became the basis for my book.Series: Afghanistan | Nigeria | United States | Brazil | Refugee camp in Jordan | Sweden | Philippines | India | Democratic Republic of Congo | Cambodia

This is a museum installation at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, UK, which I conceived and was created as a partnership between Freeda and IWM.Every day, for a few minutes, the entire museum goes dark and TikTok and Instagram videos are projected on every surface in the space. This is a peek into ordinary life in extraordinarily challenging times, as told through the voices and videos of 15 young Ukrainians.

I conceived, edited and produced this project, where I sent disposable cameras to women in 20 countries to create an intimate portrait of motherhood around the world, published across CNN digital and social platforms.

This piece was a Webby Honoree

This project won an EPPY award. I put flyers up around the United States asking people to leave a voicemail and tell us their love story. The stories aired on TV, social media, and digital platforms.

I conceived, commissioned, and edited this interview series about women and work. Interviewees included Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, DC police chief Cathy Lanier, a Congresswoman and more.

A viral Tumblr sharing human stories and voicemails from people around the world.

Press, speaking, and advisory roles

Speaking

I have chaired panels on women's rights around the world, Gaza, beauty standards, and more at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in recent years. My co-panelists have included a Member of Parliament (UK), leading human rights lawyers who have represented Amber Heard, Booker Prize nominated authors, Penguin's Merky Book winners, and more.I have also guest lectured occassionally on innovation, leadership, and journalism, including at Oxford, Columbia, Goldsmiths, ONA-Poynter Women's Leadership Academy and more.

Advisory Roles

I am an associate, advising the Imperial War Museum in the UK. I also sit on the board of advisors for More to Her Story.

Awards

I share in a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the Washington Post's coverage of Edward Snowden and the NSA (2014).I also share in a Webby and and a Murrow Award for CNN's coverage of the 2016 elections on social media.I'm also a Webby honoree and an EPPY award winner for my digital audio projects at CNN.I was awarded a Howard Buffett grant by the International Women's Media Foundation.

Press

Select press about my book, The Infrastructure of Belonging:
- Technology blamed for rise of loneliness in young people - CNN
- Times Radio with Jane Mulkerrins
- It’s easier than ever to connect with people from across the world. So why are we so lonely? - The Big Issue
- Young people are inheriting an impossible world. Of course they are taking to the streets - The Nerve

Interviews:
- More to Her Story Podcast interview
- Leading Millennials: Masuma Ahuja, CNN - The Splice Newsroom
- The old, new, and unexpected mediums for human stories - Journalism.co.uk podcast
- Making decisions when you're in a cone of uncertainty - Poynter
- CNN and Washington Post are using voicemail to connect with audiences - Journalism.co.uk
- Leave a message after the tone - Journalism.co.uk podcast
- The magic of ‘experiment-land’ in legacy newsrooms - Poynter
- Futures Lab: Ideas for using Vine and Snapchat - Reynolds Journalism Institute

Select press about my book, Girlhood:
- In ‘Girlhood,’ Teens Across the Globe Write About their Everyday Lives - NPR
- Hopes, dreams, and fears: the world of teenage girls through their diaries - The Guardian
- ’Girlhood’ and 6 other stories about being young and female - CNN
- 30 girls in 27 countries weigh in on Girlhood today - Women’s Media Center

Select press about my work:
- How CNN is recreating the #Rio2016 experience on social media - Journalism.co.uk
- How CNN juggles different mobile chat apps to cover the Olympics - DigiDay
- Developed with young readers in mind, CNN’s new Kik bot gives you the basics on big news stories - NiemanLab
- Why CNN, of all places, is asking for love stories - DigiDay
- Messaging apps, voicemail, and other platforms CNN’s Masuma Ahuja is exploring next - Poynter
- How news organizations are trying to get people to talk, and listen, to each other after the election - Poynter

Writing about my career:
- What to do when your career path is uncharted territory - Poynter
- Journalism starts working for, and with, communities - Prediction for journalism in 2023 for Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab
- Slower, quieter, more measured and thoughtful - Prediction for journalism in 2020 for Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab
- Making foreign coverage less foreign - Prediction for journalism in 2019 for Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab